Pattamar

Pattamar was
the father of all the Malabar craft. It is most probably a Hindi name meaning
messenger or despatch vessel, converted by the Mussulman seaman to Phatemari -
the snake of victory. The Portuguese found the name when they first penetrated
the Indian seas. It was basically a
large two-or three-masted dhow of India.

Pattamar was
a lateen-rigged dhow type of cargo-vessel. It was
large, fast, and able vessel with
sharp forward hull, with great sheer, with "dhow" manner
square sterns in general, but without a poop deck. Instead of poop they had a bamboo
and palm-leaf deck-house running almost all the way to the foremast. When loaded
and making sea­passage their low waistsby was usualy raised by wash-strakes of
palm matting to keep out the sea.

They could be
distinguished by their red paint and black gunwales and the globe painted in
bright colours on the stern
transom.
The lengths did not exceed about 75 feet and the tonnage was up to 300 tons.

The basic rig
was that of the lateen with bowsprit and jib, but there were many variations of
it. They carried two to
three suits of sails of varying sizes for various weather conditions. Sailors
could always make a temporary new yard if needed from the collection of odd
spars generally carried on board for all sorts of purposes. As known, the lateen
sails reached as far south as Ceylon, where they could be seen in combination
with staysails and fore-and-aft mizens.

Pattamars
were used by the Mohammedan seamen on the Bombay coast
from Colombo all the way to Aden.